How Well Do you Know Your Brain?

Ever found yourself sitting around and think, huh, Neuroscience is essentially the brain studying itself? Thought so. This blog delves into different phenomena of the brain.

Our vision is formed by the reflection of light at different wavelengths. Interestingly enough, when we look back and forth between a green vertical grating and red horizontal grating, black and white vertical and horizontal gratings take on a green or red color or mix of the two. Now this may seem like our brain just remembers the colors and the transition is fairly easy to explain, but this effect of seeing greenish to pinkish hues in different gratings can last for three months after initially looking at the two color gratings. This results from the retina orientation and time-averaged stimuli exposure. Known as the McCollough Effect, the after effects are most noticed when two stimuli are opposites and different. In this way, green and red are ideal stimli. This effect depends on the orientation of a grating such that normal black and white horizontal gratings will now appear pink and black while vertical gratings will appear green and black. Now, if someone took the horizontal grating (pink) and you tilted your head 90 degrees relative to the horizontal lines, the color would shift to green. This goes to show that the perception of the color depends on your orientation to the line. While this is an interesting phenomenon to try, if you are currently working on graphic design or visual projects, this may affect your perception for awhile.

Another topic that has become of an interest to me and my friends, is the Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR). Also a perception phenom, ASMR is the distinct tingling sensation in head or body from pleasing sensory stimuli. It can result from the response to visuals or sound. What is bizarre, is that there are videos of individuals who try to induce ASMR on their viewers. Recently, I looked into a Virtual Barber Shop which plays into this phenomenon by emulating barber shop on a virtual level. The clippers, scissors, and vibe all play into the illusion, and is quite the experience. If you have never had a Virtual Haircut, I would recommend trying it out at least once!